Lochmaea suturalis

Heather beetle

The heather beetle ( Lochmaea suturalis ) is a species of beetle in the family of leaf beetles ( Chrysomelidae ). It feeds on heather ( Calluna vulgaris ) and other moorland species.

Features

The beetle is brown with black elytra seam, its length is five to six millimeters.

The adult beetle spends the winter in the sleep state in moss or leaves below heath plants. After the beginning of spring he can fly several kilometers. The beetles eat heather leaves and drove spikes, the larvae eat the leaves up to the outer skin.

Occurrence

The heather beetle is found in north-western Europe, as in North-West Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom.

In some years it comes to the gradation and massive damage to the heathland. The mass increase is related to the rainfall during the development of the larvae. Are there three directly consecutive years from May to July each more than 43 days with more than 0.1 millimeters of precipitation, a mass increase is expected.